Evidence-based Practice Proposal

Course Title
Date
 Brief History

 Orthodox: Summer of 1054 when it was born from Catholicism.

 Result of the schism between the western church (Roman Catholic) and eastern church (orthodox).

 Catholic Christianity date back to as early as first century; related to the inception of Christianity.

 Wrangles between the two Christian groups include cultural clashes, political circumstances, papal claims,

and the introduction of the Fili0que phrase into the Nicene creed.

 Division at 1054 saw roman catholic center its operation on Pope of Rome; Orthodox church centered on

Patriarch of Constantinople

 Lived in formal isolation until recently; in 1965, Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI mutually lifted

the anathema charges.

 Approach to the Bible
 Cannon of scriptures for the orthodox is slightly different from the Roman catholic

 Orthodox has additional parts; 1 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasseh in Chronicles, Psalm 151, 3 & 4

Maccabees.

 Other parts of the bible are similar.

 Interpretation is similar; difference not centered on the bible.

 Catholic rejects the deuterocanonical books found in the orthodox bible and term them as apocrypha

 Apocrypha; hidden things.

 Eucharist
 In the orthodox church; Eucharist is a symbol of the forgiveness of sins

 Termed as the mystic supper; an encounter with the risen Christ.

 In catholic church, the Eucharist is similar to that of the orthodox; regarded as Holy sacrifice of the

Mass.

 Orthodox; priest call upon the Holy Spirit on the bread and wine; belief is that they change to actual

body and blood of Christ; divine mystery.

 Catholic church; the Priest, who acts in the person of Christ.

 In both churches, the Eucharist is partaken only by the members of the church
 Beliefs
 Catholic church; for salvation, Christ has to die on the cross; a sacrifice to pay for the sins.

 Sacrifice as a compensation for the damage caused in the relationship between God and man.

 Orthodox church believe that there is no condition for acceptance back to God.

 Orthodox perceives God as a loving father rather than a punisher.

 no payment required to be accepted back by God.

 The blood of Jesus was not to repair something; According to Anselm of Canterbury Christ had to

comply until the end to save humanity.

 Beliefs Cont…
 Nature of God

 Orthodox takes God as the father; the tale of the prodigal son; does not matter if we are sinners or not.

 Catholic church views the relationship with God as that of master and servant; tale of the workers

 Catholic view; cause- effect relationship; for something to happen, there must be action.

 Viewpoint on original sin

 Catholic believe it is carried by all humanity; all guilty for what the first man did

 In orthodox church, there is nothing as inherited sin; original sin is just a prototype of the sinful nature of

man
 Ethics

 Orthodox church believe that marriage is a mystic union.

 Divorce only allowed in cases of adultery; exceptions are there.

 In catholic church, marriage is seen as an unbreakable contract; typical of Christ in the church;

remarriage not allowed.

 In orthodox, worship is solely centered on the divine liturgy

 In catholic church, worship is centered on the procedural mass.

 Both use the vernacular language in times of worship

 Beliefs About Mary

In orthodox, Mary is venerated as Theotokos; meaning God bearer.

She bore God in human form.

The view is similar in Catholic church; title “mother of God” more prevalent than Theotokos

Title is one of the Marian dogmas of the catholic church; others include immaculate conception,

perpetual virginity.

Orthodox church agrees that Mary experienced physical death but reject immaculate conception

The catholic church is yet to decide whether Mary experienced physical death.
 Rituals
 Orthodox church has seven sacraments, but the list is not fixed.

 Catholic church has its sacraments number fixed at seven

 The sacrament known as Chrismation in orthodox church is replaced by the confirmation sacrament

in the catholic church.

 In both churches, the sacraments depicts mystical grace for those who participate in their partaking.
 Pope
 In orthodox church, the pope is recognized as the bishop of Rome

 His authority is no greater than other bishops.

 In catholic church, the pope is the vicar of Christ; the visible head of the church on earth; successor of

St. Peter; has supreme authority regarding Christianity.

 The Orthodox church rejects papal infallibility; the Holy Spirit is the guide to the church; recognize the

first seven ecumenical councils as infallible.

 In the Catholic church, the pope is infallible; defines doctrines of faith and morals.
 Summary
 Evident that Orthodox and catholic churches have contrasting characteristics and beliefs.

 Despite their seemingly similar approach to worship, bible and the Eucharist.

 Differences emanate in matters of the original sin where the Orthodox church fail to recognize the

concept of sin inheritance.

 There are also disagreements on Mary and her death as well as her immaculate conception.

 Other beliefs are revealed such as salvation and the relationship between God and man.

 In matters of ethics, marriage is perceived differently with the Catholic postulating it as an unbreakable

union.
 References
 Cohen, W. (2017). The Concept of" sister Churches" in Catholic-Orthodox Relations Since Vatican

II (Vol. 67). Wipf and Stock Publishers.

 Doak, M. (2007). The politics of Radical Orthodoxy: A catholic critique. Theological Studies,

68(2), 368-393.

 Hemming, L. P. (2017). Radical Orthodoxy?-A Catholic Enquiry. Routledge.

 Tomka, M. (2006). Is conventional sociology of religion able to deal with differences between Eastern

and Western European developments?. Social compass, 53(2), 251-265.